Conveyer



C. l. LATTlG June 20-, 1944.

CONVEYER Filed 001:. 20. 1942 ZOCIUUNE W N 7 gm E M A Ga 5 J j Patented June 20, 1944 CONVEYER Charles I. Lattig, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The Jefirey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio Application October, 20, 1942, Serial No. 462,707

4 Claims. (01. 198-471) This invention relates to a conveyer particularly of the scraper type in which material is conveyed through an enclosed working leg by a chain and attached flights.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved and simplified conveyer of the above mentioned type in which the flights may be considered as generally solid, as distinguished from the skeleton type, yet operate with some of the characteristics of -the skeleton type flight.

Another object of the invention is to provide .conveyer chain and flights which are rugged and of simple construction, yet highly efiicient in operation.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations being set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a conveyer incorporating the features of my invention, the conveyer being broken away at one place to show the structure more in detail;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view looking inside the working leg of the casing from the front to the rear thereof; and

Fig. 3 is a side view inside the working leg of the casing, the casing being shown in section.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1 of thedrawing, there is illustrated a generally L-shaped casing or housing it! which includes a head section H, a foot or tail section l2, a feed section l3, one or more intermediate horizontal sections i l, a curved section l5 and one or more upwardly extending sections 16, all interconnected.

For a more complete disclosure of the casing or housing It, reference is made to the application of Stanley M. Mercier, Serial No. 448,395, filed June 25, 1942, entitled Conveyer. .It is to .be understood, however, that other casings or housings may be employed.

The casing or housing In is formed to provide an enclosing working leg I! and an enclosing return leg [8. The working leg I! may be considered as extending from the feed spout [9 of the feed section 13 to the discharge chamber 20 in the head section II. The head section II ineludes a head or drive sprocket 2| driven by appropriate drive gearing from an electric motor 22 and the tail or foot section l2 includes a tension adjusting tail sprocket 23.

Running through the working leg I! and the return leg 58 and over the sprockets 2| and 23 is an endless conveyer mechanism 24, the structure of which is shown particularly in detail in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing. It may be further pointed out that particularly within the upright section It the working and return legs I! and I8 are formed by a common separating partition 25 which forms the back wall of the working leg ll and the front wall of the return leg 58. a

Referring particularly to Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing, it will be seen that the endless conveyer mechanism 24 comprises a plurality of rigid links 26 which are provided at their bottoms or trailing ends with knuckles 21, the knuckle of each link being pivotally connected by a pivot pin 28 to the forward or upper end of eachtrailing link, thus providing for pivotal movement of the chain links along the axes of the pins 28, said chain 26 being substantially rigid against lateral bending.

As illustratedbest in Fig. 3 of the drawing, the links 26 form a complete chain which rides upon the rear wall 25 of the working leg ll which, as above mentioned, forms the partition between the working leg El and the return leg 18. As illustrated in the drawing; each of the knuckles 21 carries a rigid flight 29 or 3B but if desired, flights 29 and 313 may be provided only on alternate links 23 or otherwise desirably spaced. The flightsZB and 30 are of similarconstruction excepting that one extends to one side of the chain rormed by the links 25 and the other extends to the other side thereof sothat the flights 29 and W are spaced alternately on opposite sides of the conveyer chain 26; Except for their being reversed, the flights 29 and 30 are similar so a description of flight 29 only will suffice for both types.

Said flight re comprises an L-sh-aped rod or bar-3i which has one leg thereof rigidly attached to a knuckle 27 as by welding and this one leg extends laterally adjacent the rear wall 25 of working leg ll until it be'nds'into the' second leg which is adjacentthe left-hand side wall of said working leg ll as viewed in Fig. 2 of the drawing. This leg of the rod 3| then extends forwardly and close to said side wall of the casing I0 substantially the entire width of the working leg ll terminating adjacent the front wall of said working leg ll.

Rigidly attached to the leg of the rod 3| which is adjacent the side wall is a rearwardly or downwardly sloping wing or plate 32, the forward portion of which is adjacent the front wall of the working leg I! and the rearward portion of which preferably is spaced from the partition 25 or rear wall of the working leg I! although it similar structure but is reversely positioned, be-

ing on the other side of the chain 26, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing.

In the operation of the device, the material the motor 22 pulls the conveyer mechanism 24 through the housing or casing in to convey material from said feed chute 19 thru the working leg I! to discharge it by way of discharge chamber 20. The flights 29 and 30 are essentially of the solid type but they do not fill the entire cross-sectional area of the working leg l1. Itis obvious, for example, that the flight 29 will sweep the cross-sectional area of the working leg I! which is approximately but somewhat less than half the area and on one side thereof, while the flight 30 will operate similarly on the other side thereof. It may be further pointed out that the plane of the L-shaped member 3| is substantially at right angles to the direction of travel of the endless conveyer mechanism 24. It is also to be noted that the flight 29 includes a leading edge adjacent approximately half of the back wall 25 of working'leg ll, also aleading edge adjacent substantially the entire width of one side wall, the two edges just described being provided by the two legs of the L-shaped member 3|, there also being an edge adjacent approximately half of the front wall of working leg I! provided by the front edge of the wing or plate 32. In fact, if desired, the wing 32 may be made relatively thin and could bemade as. another leg of the rod 3|, in which case it might be extended rearwardly substantially as is wing 32 or it might lie in the :same plane as-the rod 3| and extend over substantially halfl thewwidth of the front plate of the workinguleg 11. Such a structure would, of course, provide an open-type flight29 which covered or swept approximately half the area of the working leg I]. ,i

Inthe construction as illustrated, which is the preferred construction,- it is evident that the material is not positively conveyed by the flights 29 and: 39 since it can work its way between said flights in the casing and this provides the characteristics of a, generally open-type flight even though the flights aresubstantially of the solid construction, Such open-type flights have oer-.- tain advantagesin conveying certain type of materials. It is obvious that when the material reaches the discharge chamber 20, which is preftobe conveyed is delivered tothe feed chute I9 and I hereto appended, and I wish therefore not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiextending working leg, endless draft conveying mechanism adapted to travel in said working leg, said draft conveying mechanism having successive flights each extending along substantially only one-half of one wall and along an adjacent side wall of said casing, and having a wing sloping rearwardly relative to the direction of travel, successive flights extending from opposite sides of said draft mechanism.

2. A conveyer includingan enclosed working leg, an endless chain extending through said leg formed of pivotally connected links, flights, one rigidlyattached to each link,'successive flights extending laterally only on opposite sides of said chain, said flights comprising L--shaped rods connected to said links in a plane substantially at right angles to the axis of travel of said chain, each ofsaid rods extending partially along one wall of the casing and substantially entirely along a connecting side wall, and plates connected' to that portion of each rod adjacent the sidewall and extending rearwardly relative to the direction of travel of said chain.

3. A conveyer including an enclosed working leg, an endless chain extending through said leg formed of pivotally connected links, flights, one rigidly attached to each link,'successive flights extending laterally only on opposite sides of said chain, said flights comprising L-shaped rods connected to said' links in a plane substantially at right angles to the axis of travel of said chain, each'of said rods extending partially along one wall of the casing and substantially entirely along aconnecting side wall," and conveying means connected to that portion of each rod adjacent the side wall and extending rearwardly relative to'the direction of travel of said chain.

4;,A conveyer chain comprising pivotally connected rigid links,,flights rigidly attached to said linksgsaid flights including L-shaped rods and trailing wings, and successive'flights extending from opposite sides of said chain.

' CHARLES I. LATTIG. 

